Dylan Greene dot com

We pride ourselves on having a volunteer armed forces... but how volunteer is it when a solder are has himself shot so that he wouldn't have to go back to Iraq?

If he didn't want to go back why should he have to? I believe he won't make an effective solider and would only bring down the moral of the other men. Okay, maybe he'd make good canon fodder, but I see no reason to add to the 1,299 Americans killed and 9,844 Americans injured in Iraq.

Plus, he had himself shot - so he's obviously not in the best mental condition. The Army should have recognized his mental problems and discharged him long ago.

My opinion is that if somebody like him doesn't want to be part of the war he or she should not have to because that person will only be endangering the lives of the people around him.

Ohio had 93,000 more votes than voters.  That's not a "minor voting problem"  - that's an election travesty. 

This isn't the liberal press inventing a non-problem.  Even FoxNews is covering the inconsistencies.

Click to see the full city.

Photo taken on November 5th and distributed through DigitalGlobe.

I'm disappointed in the media's coverage last night.  Well, the Daily Show coverage was hilarious, but that's another story.

Voting Machine Problems.  There have been hundreds of reports of e-voting machine problems, such as machines showing up already with votes on them, machines that record all Democratic tickets as an all Republican ticket if the voter leaves a question blank, machines not working, modem lines being compromised, Access database locking issues, security issues, and political influence from creators of the machines.  There's been issues of voters being turned away because their signatures weren't dead matches, and even a traditionally Democratic county in Florida that had 58,000 absentee ballots go missing.  The media ignored the problems.

Exit Poll Inconstancies.  Why did the exit polls show a clear Kerry lead in nearly every battleground state including Florida, but the final voting numbers weren't even close?  I know exit polls are not going to be dead on, but they weren't even close.  The huge discrepancy makes me wonder what the voting machine counted versus what people said/thought they did.

Phantom Votes.  There seems to be an abnormally large number of votes in Florida just for president, ignoring all other questions on the ballot.  Now I know people ignore questions or candidates on the ballot they don't know anything about, but Florida is unique case:  while most states have at most 1% voters who just vote for President, Florida had 2% - a new record.  Yesterday 171,537 votes were counted for president on ballots that were otherwise empty. Why is this number so large?  Where there really that many people that didn't bother with any other questions on the ballot or is this some bigger sign of one of the other two issues I brought up.

I'm glad this won't be drawn out into another month-long fiasco, but I would like be assured that our right to vote for our leadership was not stolen from us once again.

What would happen if people took advantage of the "Write In" ballot choice?

GO VOTE!!!!

I don't care which side you are for, make your voice heard! Help make this the most active voting turnout ever!

I must warn you: the lines are going to be long! Two or even three hour lines are NORMAL. Please wait! Bring your cell phone, call friends while you wait. Tell them how important it is to vote. Don't worry which side the are voting for. Every voice counts. So many ballots are going to be thrown out for stupid reasons that if you don't vote, you're letting dozens, if not hundreds, of votes from the other side take your place. Make sure you are heard.

Plus, there are other issues besides who becomes President.

Go vote, it's a right many people never live to have, and many have died to make sure you live to have.

This is YOUR country, be part of it.

Robb Finberg, a Republican running for Senate in Hawaii, said on video that he would support a law for "the execution of people found guilty of performing homosexual acts."

Scary...  When voting, make sure you know who you are voting for.

From Talking Points Memo:

Some group is South Carolina is circulating a phony letter, purporting to be from the NAACP, alerting voters that they'll be arrested at the polls if they have unpaid parking tickets or are behind in child support.

Here's the report from the AP and more from the SC Democratic party.

This stunt aimed at minority voters crops up every cycle. Here's an example we chronicled from two years ago in Baltimore.

This is but one example. But across the country, the Republican ground game is simple: prevent as many newly registered voters from voting as possible. It's really as simple as that.

Yet another example here from Ed Kilgore.

From New York Times:

The American inspectors say all of the sealed structures at the Muthanna site, 35 miles northwest of Baghdad, were broken into. But it is unknown if usable chemical warheads were in the bunker, what may have been taken and by whom.

From LostRemote.com:

Journalist punched, arrested in Florida
Can you believe this? A sheriff's deputy tackled, punched and arrested a print reporter for taking pictures of people standing in line to vote in West Palm Beach. The sheriff's department says it's enforcing a new county rule that prohibits the press from interviewing or photographing voters lined up outside the polls. As you can imagine, lawyers are scrambling. (Thanks, Michelle)

FOX News does their own poll... and puts Kerry in the lead.

From AmericaBlog:

I'm watching CNN and this is just amazing. First they've got a panel of 6 or 7 people looking at each absentee ballot to determine whether the signature on the absentee ballot is the same signature the person used to register to vote before, sometimes decades ago. Then they vote on whether to keep the ballot or not. I can't believe they're doing this again. Then CNN shows another woman who wasn't allowed to vote in FL because when she filled out her voter registration she failed to check the box that said she was mentally competent. So now she can't vote.

A QUICK GUIDE TO AVOIDING PROBLEMS AT THE POLLS

Before you go to the polls:

• Find your correct polling place. Click here: http://www.mypollingplace.com. They are getting crushed with requests, so if you don't get through right away, try again later or just call your local Board of Elections.
• To avoid confusion and save time, study the ballot. Check your local newspaper for a copy.
• Find a form of identification to bring to the polls. Unless you are a first-time voter who registered by mail without sending identification, you have the right to vote without providing ID. However, to avoid hassles just bring ID anyway. A government-issued ID is best (such as a driver's license), but you can also bring a utility bill, paycheck stub, phone bill, or similar papers with your name on them. If your ID does not have a signature, bring two forms of identification.
• Allow plenty of time to vote, preferably in the morning. There may be lines. Bring something to read. If the line is really long, consider getting a box of donuts or cookies to share to lighten the mood. Someone might be challenging voters just to slow things up in the hope that long lines will scare away voters. If this is happening, let folks in line know so it stiffens their resolve to stay and cast vote.
• Learn your voting rights:
  • Even if you are not on the voter list, federal law gives you the right to a "provisional ballot." Insist on one and vote. A regular ballot is preferable, so you should do whatever you can to get a regular ballot first, like going home and getting a second form of identification or going to the polling place where you are definitely on the voter list. But rather than be turned away, demand a provisional ballot.
  • You have the right to vote if you are in line when the polls close. Stay in line until you vote.
  • Find out if your employer will give you time off to vote, if necessary.

At the polls:

• If you are confused about ANYTHING or feel you are being harassed, ask the official poll workers to help. Do not rely on fellow citizens for advice about the ballot, how the voting machines work, or why you are not on the rolls. If someone is challenging your right to vote, ask the poll workers to intervene.
• If someone harasses you, don't cause a ruckus. Just ignore the harasser, report it to a poll worker, and let the voting process continue. What kinds of things might somebody try? Well, in the past people have insisted on more ID than is required or argued that someone is at the wrong polling place.
• If something goes wrong, document it. Write down what happened, when, and descriptions of the people involved, including their names, if you can get them. If you have a camera or camera-phone, take pictures.
• Report voting problems to an organization ready to respond to problems at the polls:
  • Common Cause: Call 1-866-MYVOTE1. This is a hotline you can call to report any voting problems.
  • 1-866-OUR-VOTE. This hotline has been set up by a coalition of nonpartisan groups to deal with the most serious problems on Election Day. They have hundreds of lawyers standing by to immediately respond to the most egregious problems. 1-866-OUR-VOTE is the "911" of voter suppression hotlines. Please don't call unless your problem is serious enough that you have to talk to a lawyer immediately.

• Contact the media. If something is going terribly wrong at a polling site and you have reported it to the folks above, you might want to then call local radio, television, and newspaper reporters. Often problems clear up quickly after a reporter arrives.

It's odd that it's come to this. But given how hard Americans have fought for the freedom to pick our government, it ought to take a lot more than these inconveniences and ham-handed attempts by desperate political operatives to dissuade us from casting a ballot. See you at the polls.

One week till election day! 

It's really sad that the Bush campaign, desperate for mud to sling, has resorted to spending $8 million on distorted anti-Kerry ads, running those ads more than 9,000 times in 45 cities last week alone.

From FactCheck.org:

Both ads repeat claims we've repeatedly disputed here. They both attempt to portray Kerry as eager to raise taxes on middle-income taxpayers, which Kerry has said consistently he won't do. One ad characterizes Kerry's votes against proposed tax cuts as votes to "raise taxes," an outright falsehood.

At least it runs in line with the Bush-way: spend big and mislead the public.